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Structuring YAML Pipelines and nested variables in Azure DevOps

When managing pipelines for large and complex repositories with multiple ‘Platforms’, each containing multiple apps and services, then the folder structure and variable strategy can be complicated. However, if this is done right, then the payoff for template reuse is dramatic. Here, I outline my approach on the pipeline folder and YAML structure only. The variable structure allows for a full set…

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Mono-repository folder structures

Every developer has their own way of structuring their code base. There is no right or wrong way, but some strategies have at least had some logical thought 😉 This is a sample of how I generally structure my mono-repos when they need to scale to many organisational platforms, apps, and projects. Continue reading Untitled

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Rest API Paging Strategy

There is a lot written about paging strategies for REST API��s. This is my simple and quick take on the subject and what I generally implement when rolling my own APIs. Any API that returns a collection should have some form of return result limiting. This is to avoid killing your web servers, database servers, networks and avoiding a super easy distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. I…

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How to publish a multi-page Azure DevOps Wiki to PDF (and pipeline it)

Although you can print a single page of your wiki to a PDF using the browser, it’s problematic when you have a more complex structured multi-page wiki and you need to distribute or archive it as a single file. Fortunately thanks to the great initiative by Max Melcher and his AzureDevOps.WikiPDFExport tool, combined with Richard Fennell’s WIKI PDF Export Tasks, we can not only produce pretty good…

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Changing your PowerShell Prompt

Been meaning to make this useful note for myself for ages. A quick helper on how to easily make your PowerShell prompt suit you better.

Ever had a PowerShell session when you are far down the folder path, and the prompt is so long it gets hard to see what commands and response you have…like this… If only you could change the prompt to be a lot shorter…well, you can easily \o/ The PowerShell prompt is determined by the built-in Prompt function. You can customize the prompt by creating your own Prompt function and saving it in…

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at Battersea Power Station https://www.instagram.com/p/CptMskkD0Ai/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Enabling Diagnostics on everything* in Azure

Enabling Diagnostics on everything* in Azure

Sometimes you just want to enable diagnostics on everything* (* = eligiable resource types) in a Resource Group and to point to the same Log Analytics workspace. Here is a PowerShell script that allows you to do this. See the Examples for details on what you can do. The Log Analytics and Storage accounts do need to be in the same subscription. <#PSScriptInfo .VERSION 1.0 .GUID…

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Azure Key Vault - List Secrets that have not been set

Azure Key Vault – List Secrets that have not been set

When working across multiple environments, with restricted access, it can by difficult tracking which Key Vault secrets have been configured and which still need values set. On my projects I like to give the dev teams autonomy on the dev environments setting their own Key Vault Keys and Secrets (following an agreed convention). Periodically we then copy these keys to the other environment Key…

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Azure Key Vault - Script for copying secrets from one to another

Azure Key Vault – Script for copying secrets from one to another

The following script can be used to copy secrets from one Key Vault to another. You can use this to copy secrets or just the secret names (-NameOnly) from one Key Vault to another, in the same or another subscription. It’s as simple as the following PowerShell commands below to…

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How to synchronize a large Microsoft (Office) 365 Group membership with Teams using PowerShell

How to synchronize a large Microsoft (Office) 365 Group membership with Teams using PowerShell

Microsoft Teams Logo

Although Microsoft have improved the use of Security and Distribution Group usage in managing large Team memberships, there are still constraints and limitation that may require a scripted solution (see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/best-practices-large-groups).

For Teams limits see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/limits-specifications-…

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Set Drain mode on VM's in a Windows Virtual Desktop Host Pool with PowerShell

Set Drain mode on VM’s in a Windows Virtual Desktop Host Pool with PowerShell

There will be times when you will want to start clearing down all active sessions on you Window Virtual Desktop hostpool hosts. This maybe because you want to perform some maintenance or migrate users to another pool.

The following script allows you to set and unset ‘Drain’ mode on all the Hosts or just a specific VM and below is an Automation Account runbook friendly version 😉

#----------…

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Reboot all the VM's in a Windows Virtual Desktop Host Pool...safely ;-)

Reboot all the VM’s in a Windows Virtual Desktop Host Pool…safely ;-)

I have found that the session hosts often end up reporting a status of ‘Needs Assistance’. This can be caused by updates having been applied that require a reboot to complete…and other unknown issues. Often a reboot will sort them out. So I developed a simple script to assist.

The following script will allow you to specifiy the only the VM’s in a Host Pool and only those that ‘Need Assistance’…

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Add Git Bash (or other) to Windows Terminal

Add Git Bash (or other) to Windows Terminal

This is my quick, 1 minute, method to add ‘Git for Windows’ bashto Windows Terminal. But you can use the same process for any other command line.

Either use the shortcut CTRL+, or the menu to open the settings.json

This will open the settings.json file in you default editor.

Now generate a new GUID by either

go to https://www.guidgenerator.com/online-guid-generator.aspx or

Enter…

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Power Off and On a Heatmiser neoStat v2...that actually works!

Power Off and On a Heatmiser neoStat v2…that actually works!

If, like me, you have been driving yourself crazy trying to follow the instructions in the Heatmiser neoStat V2 manual page 21 and wondering why you can Power the thing off (which is required for a number of actions)…then it’s because it’s wrong. After contacting support, I found the right way 🙂

Page 21 of the manual, with the wrong instructions! Here’s how you do it

Use the < > buttons…

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Cloud Resource Naming Convention (Azure)

Cloud Resource Naming Convention (Azure)

In any organisation it is important to get a standard naming convention in place for most things, but especially with cloud based resources.

As many types of cloud resources require globally unique names (due to platform DNS resolution), it’s important to have a strategy that will give you a good chance of achieving global uniqueness, but also as helpful as possible to human beings, as well as…

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How to get the Ratings from SharePoint into your PowerApp

How to get the Ratings from SharePoint into your PowerApp

The seems to be a disconnect between how ratings work in SharePoint, the actual data values in the underlying table and how to use them in a PowerApp.

I’ll explain what and how I got the ratings to show in my PowerApp.

(more…)

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IActionResult Return Types and StatusCodes quick reference

IActionResult Return Types and StatusCodes quick reference

I’m always forgetting which return types are available directly from ASP.Net controllers, so have created a quick listing here.

For general information on HTTP Status codes see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes

ASP.Net Core 2.2 All Status Codes:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/dotnet/api/microsoft.aspnetcore.http.statuscodes?view=aspnetcore-2.2

ControllerBase…